Weekend in Semarang: around Simpang Lima

Trips and Food Safari: Salatiga

Salatiga is a pleasant little town, located in the middle part of Java, about 1.5 hours drive heading south from Semarang, the capital city of Jawa Tengah. This place is surrounded by two volcanoes, Mt. Merbabu and Mt. Telomoyo. The highland Salatiga has cool climate which makes it so comfortable for a relaxing holiday.

If you take a drive to Kopeng, somewhere along the way, you'll find a place to eat called "Fani". This place is quite popular because they serve only satay and rica-rica, a traditional Manado culinary, using unusual meats: porcupine, civet, wild cat, or dog!

Glosarry: landak=porcupine; luwak=civet (Paradoxurus sp1); garangan=toddy cat (Paradoxurus sp2); bajing=squirrel; blacan=fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus); RW is just a term for dog meat

We went there to taste those unusual meats. I didn't mind to taste them, but not for the dog meat. I was thinking to try squirrel meat and one of those wild cats. Unfortunally at that time, they only had porcupine and dog meat available. They said that this depends on what the hunters caught. Porcupine, I think, was the most common animal found around the mountain in Salatiga as they were always available on the menu.

So, we just ordered porcupine satay and porcupine rica-rica. Porcupine meat had hard texture and specific smell. Well, it was quite tiring to chew this rubbery meat. I think, that would be my first and last time to eat porcupine.

Another interesting place to eat you can find along the way is a place that sells rabbit satay. People said that eating rabbit meat can warm your body. I think that's the reason why in Indonesia, rabbit satay is commonly found around highland areas, as it can be useful to combat cold temperature in that areas. So, we also stopped by to try rabbit satay. This one was not bad at all! Indeed, rabbit meat is so tender and tasty; doesn't have strong smell; and tastes really like chicken! Well, at least that's what everyone told me before about rabbit meat, and now I must absolutely agree with them.

After having such meaty lunch, we stopped by a strawberry farm to have fresh strawberries. There are plenty of organic strawberry farms around. There, you can pick strawberries by yourself and they will charge you based on the total weight. We bought 2 small boxes and finished them all while sitting and enjoying the fresh atmosphere around the pretty farm.

Spending night downtown Salatiga would not be complete without having traditional dessert "ronde", the sticky rice ball with grounded peanut inside, served with hot sweet ginger soup and dried fruits. The ginger soup also makes your body warm at highland cool temperature at night. Almost all along the road sides you can find ronde sellers. It would be nice to have a bowl of hot ronde while enjoying night life activities among Salatigan people.

Other things that you can try when visiting Salatiga are: Nasi koyor, the traditional mixed rice with beef and coconut milk sauce; tingting gepuk or grounded peanut candy; and beef abon or herbs-flavoured roasted beef.

Happy Chinese New Year 2559 - Mouse Year

恭喜发财
在新的一年里，祝你们有：
鼠不完的幸福，
鼠不完的快乐，
鼠不完的活力，
鼠不完的青春，
新年快乐，万事如意

a mouse, caught on the first day of the mouse year at my house, well...we released it alive outside the house thou!

Neem Tree

Hindu people in India use neem leaves as an offering to worship Lord Krishna, the incarnation of God Vishnu.

Neem tree, also known as Imbo tree (Azadirachta indica), gives lots of benefit to human beings. In Tuban, people plant them as shade trees all along the road. They also boil the leaves and drink the water as an antiseptic for stomach as well as curing itchiness or any skin disease. Other sources also mention that the extract of Neem leaves has medicinal properties as anti cancer, anti bacteria, and anti intestinal infection.

Neem trees are very abundant in Tuban, so it’s very easy to get the leaves. Once, I boiled the leaves and drank the water. The taste and the color of boiled neem are similar to Chinese bitter tea (kuding cha - 苦丁茶), one of my favorite tea. There is one big tree just next to my house in Tuban, so I can enjoy my bitter "Imbo" tea any time. ^_^

Around Tuban: Bektiharjo Pool and Ngerong Cave

Morning Inspiration: The song

In a fresh morning, inspiration can just easily pop up inside my head and flow wild. All tasks that require creative solution seems to be confidently manageable. One of my experience with a morning inspiration resulted in a sweet piece of music. Composing a melody was as simple as interpreting my own mood. Then the music gradually sounded in my ears. And I just took my pen and translated it onto a piece of paper.

To me, a beautiful melody is not necessarily difficult. The simple one is good! The most important thing to make such a beautiful melody is that it must simply come from the pure feeling inside your heart. So, the listeners can also feel what you’ve felt, although the melody is interpreted in different ways. A melody is contagious as it emits your expression, either joyfulness, happiness, or even sorrow, to everyone who listens to your music.

But then, back again to whether or not you have inspiration. No inspiration means no idea for creativity. Inspiration is the potion that without this, you can not be optimally productive to do anything. So, my hope from now and then, every minute and every single second: May I always be fulfilled with lots of inspiration.

Nasi Jagung Jangkar

This place is located in Tuban, very famous among locals because of their traditional cuisine: eel, frog, and catfish, cooked in hot chili sauce mixed with other herbs. It does make you sweat when you eat the hot sauce with freshly steamed grounded corn (nasi jagung). I agree with most people that eel suits best with the steamed grounded corn compared to frog or catfish. Everyone who's eating there seemed to enjoy the pleasure of every drop of their sweat due to burning sensation in their mouth. A traditional fermented drink called tuak, poured in a centhak, a traditional bamboo glass, is usually asked by visitors to accompany their meals.

As most visitors’ first impression, that place might look a bit “inappropriate” as a place to eat. But people say that this place now is in a much better condition than it used to be after they’ve renovated it. Jangkar now has more and more loyal customers; and gains more popularity, not only for local Tuban people but also among visitors. If only they pay more attention to hygiene, I believe, they will have much more customers. I admit that the foods there are very amazing! I think I’m addicted to their nasi jagung with hot eels. I my self don’t mind to eat there. Hmmm…yummy!